Edwardian hospital school at Highwood School, Brentwood (EHER 15388)

Highwood School was erected by the Metropolitan Asylums Board between 1899 and 1903 for the treatment of children suffering from ophthalmia, a severe form of conjunctivitis which can lead to blindness. The architects were C. and W. Henman who designed the buildings to accommodate 350 children. The school was laid out on a cottage homes plan with five groups of cottage wards arranged around two greens, at the centre of which lay two school rooms and an administrative block. The buildings were built of red brick with slated roofs and red ridge tiles. From 1919 to 1959, the site was used to treat children with pulmonary tuberculosis before becoming a geriatric hospital. In 1940, an Emergency Medical Scheme hospital was added to the west of the site. This later became Little High Wood Hospital and was used to accommodate people with learning difficulties.

Highwood School is situated in the north-west quarter of the town, set in its own substantial landscaped grounds. Designed by C and W Henman, the buildings were erected between 1899 and 1903 by the Metropolitan Asylums Board (MAB) for children in the London borough’s suffering from ophthalmia. The site includes a porters’ lodge and probationary ward at the main entrance, a large administration block, five groups of three cottages grouped around a nurses’ house, two schools, an infirmary, a mortuary, and a laundry and boiler house. It also retains the Emergency Medical Scheme (EMS) Huts erected during World War Two. The buildings surround a large central green and face south-west, rather than towards the green as at other industrial school and cottage home sites. They are of red brick with slate roofs and the majority survive, some with later alterations or additions. Highwood is currently used as a hospital for the mentally handicapped. <1> High Wood hospital school and its sister institution White Oak (Kent) were built to provide medical and social conditions for poor children. Following the poor law act of 1839 and recommendations to remove children from the workhouse, poor children were educated in large contract schools, which due to over-crowding inevitably led to outbreaks of ophthalmia (conjunctivitis). The Local Government Board conferred the powers to the Metropolitan Asylum Board (MAB) to provide isolation accommodation for 800 children on three sites and 28.5 acres were purchased at Brentwood for £2300 in 1897 for such purpose. The architects were William and Charles Henman (Southwark) who designed accommodation laid out to the 'Cottage System' with buildings, admin block, schools and villas or cottages set out around a central green space. High Wood was opened on the 26/07/1904. The continued diminution of ophthalmia cases based on the success of the treatments and the general improvement in living conditions led to High Wood being closed for ophthalmia cases by 1915 and its temporary loan to the War Office. The Local Government Board realised it also had a large number of educationally sub-normal children and adolescents to care for and instructed the MAB to make provision. A working colony for boys was set up in Witham whereas the girls were relocated to High Wood, to take up the space left by the reduced numbers of ophthalmia patients. From 1918-19 is also accommodated sane epileptics, pulmonary TB cases and children with rheumatic disease. The spread and mortality rates of consumption or TB eventually led to the 1921 public health (TB) act which ended the link to care via national insurance and made local authorities directly responsible. From 1920 High Wood received children suffering from TB and to provide suitable open air treatment, verandas and balconies were added onto the existing cottages (villas) notably the Poplar, Firs and Rowan groups and 2 of 3 at the Laurels. Due to the outbreak of WWII the Office of Works was commanded to make emergency accommodation for 52,000 potential casualties. The emergency medical scheme (EMS) hospitals were established in selected sanatoria, mental hospitals and workhouses. The Ministry of Health noted that all blocks were to be spaced 30ft apart and set onto concrete bases. The land to the west of High Wood was used for such a scheme, built in 1939 to designs of Charles Elcock. <2> 2011. Building survey. A level 2 and 3 programme of Historic Building Recording was conducted on a group of hospital buildings at Highwood Hospital. The buildings were designed by the Henman brothers in 1903, in a style designed to have a village atmosphere, with most buildings arranged around a central green. Around 60% of the original layout of the hospital survives, and includes groups of nurses’ accommodation and wards, two school buildings, an administration block and a store. Away from the wards are a small group of buildings; a workshop, a boiler house and ancillary rooms. One original Henman nurses’ building is due for demolition (Building EHW 2), as are the boiler house and ancillary rooms (EHW 37 and 38) whereas all others will be converted to family houses and flats. Some original fabric remains in the buildings, although much has been replaced during the life of the hospital or lost to robbing, including lead from the roofs and many fireplaces. The main groups of wards and nurses’ quarters are built identically, with the same fixtures and fittings apparent in all of these buildings. Therefore, despite losses and damage, the original form of most buildings is clear, and in many cases, present. The function of the rooms in many cases is apparent, but with ongoing changes throughout the 20th century, original signage and fittings are lost. The hospital ward buildings were constructed alike, being twin ‘cottages’, with a kitchen, storerooms and day rooms on the ground floor, with a duty room, and two six-bed wards on the first floor with linen cupboards and a duty room or nurses’ station. The fabric of the building is typical of its period, with hard-wearing non-absorbent internal surfaces, whereas the external appearances makes the hospital look more like a home and less like an institution. Each group of wards was served by a nurses’ accommodation block, with kitchen and treatment room for the patients, and their own facilities for themselves. Two major phases of change are marked in the wards. The first dates to the 1920s, and is typified by the addition of sun wards on the south side of several of the twin cottages, and the arrangement of internal spaces to provide an airier environment for Tuberculosis sufferers. The second change is marked by additions, extensions, and reconfigurations of internal spaces in the post-Second World war period to enable the hospital to function as a more general health centre rather than specialist hospital. <3> Despite phases of change and alteration, the Henman hospital buildings retain much original character and form, and are good examples of the buildings built for purpose, to the latest medical theories, erected in the early 20th century. <3> NRHE data transfer: Highwood School was erected by the Metropolitan Asylums Board between 1899 and 1903 for the treatment of children suffering from ophthalmia. The architects were C and W Henman who designed the buildings to accommodate 350 children. The hospital was laid out on a cottage homes plan with five groups of cottage wards arranged around two greens, at the centre of which lay two schoolrooms and an administrative block. The buildings were built of red brick with slated roofs and red ridge tiles. From 1919 to 1959 the site was used to treat children with pulmonary tuberculosis before becoming a geriatric hospital. In 1940 an Emergency Medical Scheme hospital was added at the west site. This later became Little High Wood Hospital and was used to accommodate mentally handicapped people. <4> <5> See also: <6>